


Flowers for Kiba

by Rookmoon



Series: Nano 2020 [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Akamaru is a good wingdog, Ambiguous Age, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Depictions of Illness, Dialogue Light, Everyone Is An Adult, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Genderless, Hanahaki Disease, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, It's not all sad though, Kiba is kinda dumb, Miscommunication, Other, Pining, but he tries, no beta we die like men, pacing is hard, peonies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27398560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rookmoon/pseuds/Rookmoon
Summary: There's almost nothing that can get you to confess to your best friend. Not when you spent so long trying to bury your feelings under layers of fond teasing over the years.Unfortunately, almost nothing doesn't include terrible options as far as some weird sickness goes, so this time you play it by ear.You really wish you didn't have to do it this way, but what choice do you really have here?
Relationships: Inuzuka Kiba/Reader
Series: Nano 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001583
Kudos: 21





	Flowers for Kiba

You were on your way to pick up some food when you saw it sitting in the middle of the market like it had always belonged there. It was the biggest, dirtiest dog you’d ever seen. The thing's fur is matted in mud, and twigs and leaves cling to the slowly drying mud shaped lump of a dog. It looked over one massive shoulder to look at you with it's bright, wild eyes. You stay right where you are as the dog watches you. You take in its mud coated fur, and the sheer size of the thing as it slowly comes closer to you. It sniffs the air around you, as it's eyes zero in on your wrist. You move your hand away, and the giant dog watches every twitch with intensity that surprises you.

It's uncommon to find an animal this big, let alone a dog, inside of the village walls. On its own. Just wandering around town like it owns the place.

The only dogs you’d seen that were around this size are all connected to shinobi. Mostly the Inuzuka clan members come to mind, but you also spend quite a bit of time around them. Seeing a dog that big without a human nearby was strange, to say the least.

"There's no way you're wild." You say to the dog that doesn't speak English.

One floppy ear, still covered with mud, flicks towards you.

You pet the dog through the dried mud crust on his fur. You scratch at some of the bits of dirt that still cling to the thick fur. It flakes to the ground.

You rub your fingers on the dog's ear, and see a familiar patch of red coming through.

The dog lets you scratch it's chest, and your searching yields a patch of still very dirty white fur.

"Akamaru?" You ask. "How'd- what happened?"

The dog barks once, ignoring any further questions as he walks away. You watch as he sits down again a few yards away.

When he's sure that you've got the point, Akamaru gets up and walks towards the woods outside the main gates. You follow the familiar dog away from the village.

It doesn’t take long for trees to start blocking out the sky as Akamaru walks the trail ahead of you, and veers off course after a while. You step over logs, around a few bushes, and walk over a small stream as you trail after Akamaru.

His brisk steps crunch over the dead leaves on the ground. The dog pauses and sniffs the air before changing direction again.

Still, you follow, ever wary of where Akamaru is taking you. If Akamaru isn’t with Kiba, then where is he? You’d be hard pressed to find that guy without his dog anywhere that isn’t a restaurant. You try to ignore the pit in your stomach as worry swarms your mind. You ignore the spark of an ache in your chest as you move forward.

Every now and then, Akamaru looks back at you, giving you a look you’re quite familiar with now. The dog wants you to go faster. You pick up the pace, now running at a comfortable speed, and Akamaru takes that in stride, and goes just a little faster than you.

He still looks behind him after he passes another chunk of trees to wait for you. The little shit.

You roll your eyes, wondering just how much further you need to go before you find Kiba.

Akamaru changes direction again and, after a brief pause to make sure you could clearly see which direction he’s going, he bolts through the trees.

Of course, you chase after the dog. You had already come this far, and now you’re worried about Kiba. Of course, when the dog ran into a clearing, you jumped out of the safety of the treeline to follow. You were just trying to keep up with the blur of Akamaru ahead. Of course, you didn’t see the pit coming. Of course, you fall right into it. It’s the oldest trick in the book, and you fell for it like a chump. Unmanned pits are easy to get out of though. Lucky you.

There are deep scores in the earth around you, and the puddle of mud that’s forming around your footprints.

There’s someone else in the hole as well. Laying half covered in mud on the ground next to you is a guy with fluffy brown hair, and a jacket that you’d recognize anywhere. The guy’s head turns towards you enough for you to see part of a very distinct red fang on his face.

“Kiba, for the love of chakra, what are you doing sleeping in a place like this?” You poke his shoulder, before giving him a little push.

Kiba rocks a little bit, and rolls away from you, mumbling about five more minutes.

“I can’t just leave you here, dork.” You roll your eyes, and go to pick him up despite his incoherent grumbling. You look up at the dog, watching you from the edge of the pit.

Akamaru is panting and looking very proud of himself.

“Akamaru, why did you take me all the way out here? I know full well you can carry Kiba just fine.”

The dog barks, and thumps his tail on the ground. You have no idea what he just said, and your translator is out cold.

For a moment, you consider leaving the dog to his devices and going back to getting some food.

But, if Kiba needs you, then you’ll give him a hand. Even if it means carrying his ass out of a pit that he probably made himself.

Usually, you’d be able to ask him about it, but right now the only story he’s telling is in his own head.

You laugh when Kiba says something particularly loudly about feeling bad for stepping on hamsters while still dead to the world. You’re glad that he doesn’t decide to say anything when you’re half way out of the pit.

This guy is a whole lot heavier than he looks, but you still pull him up out of the mud and get him onto your back. It wouldn’t be good to have you drop your poor idiot on his head while he’s dead asleep, so you adjust your grip on his thighs before you jump out of the pit.

“You decided to really push it again, didn’t you Kiba.” You say, taking a closer look at the rest of the clearing. You see more gouges in the ground around you. A couple of branches are half broken, and more are laying on the ground.

Kiba mutters something in his sleep, but you can’t understand him. You’re almost sure you heard something like your name in the middle of his incoherent mumbling. You tell yourself that you’ll tease him about it later.

You try to get him to repeat himself more clearly, but he won’t say anything. Eventually, you give up. Instead of lugging him back to the village yourself, you bundle him home with the help of Akamaru, who is more than happy to do most of the work and carry his partner back into town now that he’s not in a hole. You don’t get that dog sometimes.

You’re more than ready to get the dirt off of you and keep going on with your day. You start thinking about all the things you still have to do, and what you’re going to have for dinner, and aren’t paying super close attention to Kiba, and your one job. To make sure he doesn’t tip too much.

Unfortunately for Kiba, he moves a lot in his sleep, so he tips and falls right off of Akamaru before the dog can adjust for it.

Luckily, he lands on soft dirt with a loud thud. Apparently it’s enough to wake him up from his little nap.

He rubs his head, a little sore and sheepish. “Akamaru? What happened? Where’s the clearing?”

Akamaru barks, and Kiba’s head shoots up. He looks around Akamaru’s dog, directly at you with the most embarrassed, confused face you’ve ever seen on him. He pouts, turning away and picking himself up from his heap on the ground.

“Oh, so it is you.” His voice is soft, like he still didn’t expect you to be there.

Of course he wouldn’t, but that didn’t stop you from being there, and helping him. You wouldn’t say no to Akamaru like that. 

“Surprise, I guess.” You shrug. “And you’re welcome for following your very dirty dog into a pit in the woods to get your butt home before your mom comes looking for you.”

Kiba winces and you bump him on the arm.

“By the way, you also owe me food. I was about to eat when this fluffy guy,” You nod towards Akamaru, who sets a huge paw on Kiba’s shoulder and almost knocks him over, “came to get me.”

Kiba leans into the dog hug before he stands up. He runs a hand through his mud slicked spiky hair, in what you’re sure is supposed to be a suave and charming move, but he only got a bit of the dirt off, and now it’s just sticking up more, clumped up in his face right after he moved his hair.

Akamaru twitches an ear at Kiba from where he’s still sitting. 

“Oh, alright, you big lug. We’ll go home, and get you cleaned up before we get food.” Kiba glances at you with his mouth open, but pauses and says, “If that’s alright with everyone.”

The dog somehow looks even more sad as he says this, turning those big sorrowful eyes on you.

Akamaru is always down for food, especially if it means he gets to eat when he gets home cause he can’t get food with the humans.

“Alright, I’m fine with that.” You go over to where the dog is sitting and pat him on the head.

Kiba smiles at you, wide and bright, and you’re pretty sure you feel your heart skip a beat in your chest.

You don’t know when it happened, but you’d do just about anything to make him smile at you like that again. That thing in your chest stings for a moment before the feeling fades again.

Kiba is, as usual, oblivious to your mushy feelings towards him, and as much as you’d like to keep it that way, thinking about Kiba hurts something deep in your chest. You didn’t think heartache would be such a present feeling, but it’s there.

You clear your throat and try not to cough.

“You alright?” Kiba asks. You tell him that you’re just fine, enjoy the small smile on his face as he looks at you.

It’s no big deal if he never finds out about your feelings. You can keep pushing them down until the end of time. All that matters is that you can be around him. That’s all you want. You tell yourself, yet again, that being just friends is all you could ever need from Kiba Inuzuka. Not anything else, even if it hurt.

Friends. That word sends pain through your chest and up the back of your throat. You try not to gag as you try to clear that persistent tickle in your throat. It doesn’t do anything to distract you from your train of thought, especially when Kiba looks over at you with concern written all over his face.

He asks. “If you’re not feelin’ well, I can carry ya the rest of the way. No need ta be shy about it.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Nothing to worry about.” You say, trying to ignore the heat that’s slowly burning up your neck.

_ You’re not helping, Kiba. _ You think at him.

“Well, if it is anything worth worryin’ about, lemme know.” Kiba nods like he doesn’t quite believe you, but the day goes on.

The three of you make it back to the village soon after and go your separate ways.

Kiba goes home to get as much mud off of himself and his dog as he can while you go home and scream into a pillow for a while before you’re going to meet him at the BBQ place that he loves so much.

When you get there, Kiba’s already waiting with a plate piled high with as much gristle as he can fit on the plate. His favorite, and a few slices of steak on top.

You settle in, and order some meat for yourself while you try not to get too wrapped up in Kiba’s eagerness for food. He’s staring intently at the meat as it cooks, waiting until it gets to the right color to flip.

The strips of meat sizzle when juice meets metal. The satisfying hiss is outshadowed by Kiba’s stomach growling as he tries to wait.

Your mouth is watering before the smell hits your nose, and you can’t wait to add your own food to the pile of meat that’s taking up a good chunk of the grill. You carefully flip your own food, hoping that it’ll be completely done soon.

Kiba watches you eye up your meal, waiting for something to happen, but you don’t notice. You’re too involved with steak to care about anything else.

That is, until Kiba swipes one of them. He eats the whole thing in one fell swoop as you stare at him with your jaw on the table.

“Thief! Kiba, what the fuck was that about?” You point your chopsticks at him, accusing him of the highest offence a man could make in a place like this. Stealing food.

Kiba shrugs, chewing on the fatty bit that was left over from your steak, looking very satisfied while he rolled it over and over in his teeth.

“Alright, fine. If you wanna play it that way, then I’ll play.” You mutter to yourself. Kiba either doesn’t notice, or doesn’t care, since he keeps wiggling his eyebrows at you while he eats and eyes up your food.

While he’s distracted with teasing you, you take a chance and swipe one of his pieces of gristle that has just finished cooking.

Kiba gawps at you like you just stole his livelihood out from under him.

You stick it all in your mouth, making sure he won’t try and steal it back.

“Revenge.” Is all you say around the thin and shockingly chewy bite of stolen meat.

Kiba pouts at you as he leans closer to the table. He’s pulling his best puppy dog face. The one he knows you can’t resist. This time, however, you stand firm. Chewing on the morsel until your jaw gets tired. Then, you just take a break from chewing and tend to the rest of your meat like nothing happened.

Kiba watches you, wary of every move your chopsticks make while you tend the grill, watching as you flip the slices of mouth watering meat, and rearrange them to cook how you like them. Kiba notices when you start chewing again, and he smirks as you resign yourself to chewing this one bite for five minutes. That smirk makes your heart do funny things in your chest.

“How do you like it?” He asks, still giving you that cat caught the canary look.

You chew a few more times before you answer him.

“Pretty good for something that takes forever to actually eat.” You say as you start using your teeth to tear the gloopy chunk of meat apart, and swallow it in small pieces.

It feels like it takes forever, and now Kiba’s happily chewing on his own bite of gristle across from you.

By the time you don’t have to chew anymore, your jaw is sore, and you’re so glad you don’t have to eat anything else that’s going to be that chewy. You clear your throat, thinking that one of those little bits might be stuck in your throat, and you down some water to get rid of the weird feeling that’s making its way up your throat.

Kiba’s smirk falls as he watches you drain the glass, and then clear your throat again.

“Are you sure that’s nothing?”

“As sure as I’ll ever be.”

He still doesn’t look like he believes you, but he drops it all the same.

“Aww, are you worried about me Kiba?” you tease

He looks away from your wry smile, and scratches at his ear. “Of course I’m worried about you, idiot. You’re my best human friend.”

“Hah. Human. Gotta love us humans, eh?”

“You know what I mean.” Kiba rolls his eyes, and snatches up another bite of gristle. He angrily gnaws on it while you laugh at his ‘misfortune’, and the two of you eat your fill.

You split the bill, even though Kiba said he could cover it. Instead of having him pay, you tell him that he can get the next one. Both of you know that probably won’t happen, but that doesn’t stop him from telling you that he will.

The two of you part ways once again, and you rub at your chest, wondering if there actually is something wrong with you. The little pain fades, though. So you leave it out of your mind and go home, to where there’s plenty of things to distract you from the warm feeling that being around Kiba gives you.

After everything else is done for the day, you make yourself as comfortable as you can and go to bed.

The dream you have that night isn’t anything like your usual dreams. You run from killer plants that have these innocent little flowers sprouting out of them everywhere. Their delicate petals stain themselves blue as the vines reach closer and closer. You run, but the plant is faster than you. It catches a root around your foot. You use a knife to slice through the plant, and run. You move through the dream with higher speed and agility than you have in the waking world, and you push that advantage for all it’s worth. You rush through the woods, trying to find a way out, or find out where you are. You can’t tell for the life of you, but you keep running.

It works for a while, but you still find yourself surrounded as the plant from hell boxes you in. It’s suddenly tender vines close in and trace themselves up your legs, wrapping you in their coils. Blood red flowers bloom in your face, surrounding you in the smell of flowers.

It’s hard to breathe.

The vines wrapped all around you start to squeeze you slowly until you wake up breathing hard and sitting bolt upright in your own bed and nowhere near any killer plants. You checked twice.

You usually don’t sleep well after a dream like that, so you don’t really bother trying for very long. Instead, you pace around your room, wondering what a dream like that means, and why killer plants would be after you in the first place. At this point, you’re only a little bit freaked out by the whole thing.

You try to remember what kind of flowers were on the vines, but your knowledge of flowers is flimsy at best, and the sight of the blood red blossoms leave your mind to let exhaustion take over once again. You promise yourself that you’ll think about it in the morning.

You spend the rest of that night curled up on the couch underneath one of the super soft throws that Kiba had gotten for you when he realized that you love blankets. After that, it’s easy to relax into the couch and let your mind drift off.

The rest of the night passes easily, and the next time you wake up, the sun is shining directly onto your face through your blinds.

The next time you see Kiba is a few days later. He’s on his way out of the village for a mission, and he stops by to tell you that he’s gonna be gone for a while before he actually leaves.

You have no idea how long a while is going to be, and Kiba hopes that it won’t be too long. Then he can keep an eye on the dogs, and take you with him to walk Akamaru.

He doesn’t bother hiding his beaming grin, and you don’t bother hiding your grimace at the thought of the very thorough workout that comes with walking a giant ninja hound. Unlike Kiba, you didn’t sign up for that. You were volunteered by dog breath himself, Kiba.

Luckily, Akamaru chooses right then to insert himself between you and Kiba, in order to demand pets the way that dogs do. You’re happy to pet the dog, and give him all the pets he wants while Kiba watches his dog relax and slowly lay down. His head is still big enough to be in petting range when he’s laying down, so you don’t stop scratching the dog.

“Hey, buddy. I need you to do me a favor.” You scratch Akamaru on his snout, one of his favorite places for pets. “I need you to keep an eye on Kiba for me. Make sure he doesn’t get in too much trouble, alright.”

The dog barks at you, and thumps his tail on the floor.

“Hey!” Kiba bites. “I heard that.”

“But make sure both of you get home. Can you do that, Akamaru?”

He barks, and smiles a big slobbery dog smile at you. Which you take as a ‘yes’.

You’re so busy with the dog, that Kiba’s soft look and silent promise go completely unnoticed.

You give your old friend a tight hug, thumping him solidly on the back as he turns to leave.

“Oh, hang on a sec. I’ve got something for you.” You tell Kiba, waiting until he looks back at you before going back into your home and grabbing a little packet of herbs. You hand it over without much fanfare. “Here. This might be useful.”

Kiba pokes at the little bag, playing with the string that ties it tight. “What is it?”

“Nothing unusual. Just some plants that may come in handy, ya know. Just in case something happens.”

Kiba raises an eyebrow at you, “And that’s all it is?”

“It’s… also a good luck charm….”

“Gotcha.” The charming smile Kiba turns your way makes your knees weak. “Well, I’ll be sure to put it with the others.”

“Just go already. The sooner you leave, the sooner you get back.”

You wave Kiba off as he leaves and you sigh. The deeper you fall, the further you have to go to keep everything where it’s supposed to be.

So begins your week of introspection on your relationship with Kiba, and if you maybe should do something about it.

You come to a few conclusions during that time.

One, you really,  _ really  _ miss Kiba. You miss the way you tease each other all the time, and his goofy grin when he’s about to do something stupid for the hell of it. You miss his fluffy jacket that you stole for an afternoon a couple of times and almost didn’t give back. You miss the dog smell that always lingered around him because of Akamaru. You miss Akamaru. You miss both of them a lot more than you’d openly admit to anyone.

Two, you really don’t want to put what already you have with Kiba in any sort of danger. You’ve known him for a long time, and if he were interested in you, you’re mostly sure he would have let you know at some point. So, you’re not going to say anything to him. And if you try things out and it all falls apart, then you honestly don’t know what you’d do with yourself.

Three, the coughing may actually be something to worry about. You haven’t gone to get it checked out yet, but you’ve noticed it a lot more often. There’s a chance that it’s a passing cold, and you don’t want to go into the hospital just for them to tell you you’ve caught a cold. You’ve taken care of yourself enough times at this point that it wouldn’t be hard for you to do again. No matter how much it sucked.

So, you promised yourself that if the dull, somewhat ignorable ache in your chest is still there when Kiba gets home, you’ll go to the doctor. Until then, you’ll muddle through it just like you always have. For now, you feel fine. Yeah, it’s inconvenient, but you’ve been through worse.

After all, what’s a little cold against a trained ninja? You’ve got nothing to worry about. It should be over soon.

Oh, how wrong you are. You find yourself thinking about Kiba more and more often. You’ve always got that dorky little smile on your face and people close to you have started to point it out. The cough, on the other hand, is only getting worse. It doesn’t matter how much you sleep, or how much soup you make. It’s still there. It lingers in the back of your mind, even as the brightness of thinking about Kiba distracts you from it.

The only thing is, Kiba’s not back yet, and you’re pretty sure you’ve never coughed this hard in your life. It feels like something’s stuck in there, and you almost fall over trying to get it out. When you finish coughing, you look at your hand, and see a whole ass flower petal, bright red and glistening with blood and mucus, sitting in the palm of your hand. That isn’t in any way something you wouldn’t freak the fuck out about, so as soon as you can stand you walk yourself over to the hospital to figure out why the fuck you coughed up part of a flower.

A cold, you can handle, but coughing up bloody flower petals is absolutely not what you signed up for.

When you get there, holding the flower petal in one hand, and keeping your blanket on your shoulders with the other, you head for the reception desk and let the nurse behind the counter know what happened.

His shock when you show him a flower petal, of all things, is quickly drained to terror and he gets you back shortly after you have to suppress another coughing fit.

Nothing you do helps though, so instead of keeping it down you try not to puke all over the floor and keep breathing while the nurse runs for a doctor and a bucket or something.

It’s the beginning of a miserable hospital trip. They hook you up to monitors, and stick a tube up your nose just in case you need assisted breathing. It isn’t long before you find out that the general doctors don’t know much about anything like this. The only thing they can really think of is a jutsu of some kind, but no one in the village has something like that, and you hadn’t been in contact with anyone from outside the Leaf in a month or so.

The doctors are stumped. The only thing they could find is an old legend about a strange disease called Hanahaki. To get rid of it, either confess something unspoken or kill your feelings forever by surgically removing the roots.

Wonderful. Right after you made up your mind not to tell Kiba. Of course something like this happens.

The doctors leave you to think over your choice. Confess and risk hurting your relationship with your best friend, or lose your ability to love. Or death. The doctors did mention that death is an option. Even if you chose something that isn’t death.

You’re not that dramatic, so instead, you carefully consider your options.

Thinking about life without Kiba hurts more than you thought it would, and the coughing is starting to hurt again. It’s clear that this can’t last. Your chances of Kiba returning your affection feels too flimsy for you to count on.

The only alternative is to give it all up. All of those dumb jokes you make at each other. All the teasing. The cute little smile he saves for when he’s eating out with you. Your love for him is still important to you, even if you don’t act on them. You still want to hold on to the feelings that those moments with him give you. You don’t want to lose your ability to love in order to survive.

You yearn and hope for another way, but hoping does nothing.

Not here, at least.

You don’t know how to solve this problem. Would you rather have love, or have Kiba? Would removing your ability to love ruin your relationship with him? Had he even noticed that you care so much for him?

You have no idea. This isn’t a decision you ever thought you would have to make. Why do you have such bad luck that you catch a disease that people only know about through an old story?

Another thought races through your head. If the doctors don’t know anything about this whole thing, would they actually be able to remove it, or is that speculation?

Maybe it would be safer to confess. Just get it over with. Then, you can see if it really works, and if it doesn’t, you can still have the doctors perform the surgery for you.

Asking around for Kiba doesn’t give you any idea where he might be. He’s not home, and you’re stuck here under staff supervision until either you get better, or give the go ahead for surgery to remove the peony roots growing in your air pathways and forcing themselves out of you.

You never asked to be a walking potted plant. They can’t even tell you how long you have left, since the internal growth and development is abnormal, to say the least.

In the solitude of your hospital room and the small comforts your bed provides, you cry. Tears stream down your face as your body shakes. You wipe at the tracks they leave, and keep sobbing into your hands until you just feel numb and tired. Then, you go to a dark, dreamless sleep.

You spend the rest of your time there trying to hype yourself up to escape the hospital, and to give a confession.

The doctors accepted your plan to confess and see what would happen, as long as you stay to be monitored until Kiba returns.

When he does, you’re the first to know. The doctors insist on you having him come to the hospital, and getting it done where they can track your vitals and act quickly if they need to, but you don’t want to be hooked up to anything. If you’re actually going to do this, it’ll be doing what you always do with Kiba after a long mission. You’re going to eat as much food as you can, and enjoy his company one last time.

It’s almost too easy to sneak out of the hospital. You had been taken off of monitoring for a while and found the perfect chance to get away and change into some normal clothes.

Kiba is more than happy to meet you at the usual BBQ place, and you both get what you usually do. Everything is the same, but still different. Maybe it’s because this might be the last time you do something like this with him. You’re not sure if it’s because of the flowers threatening to climb your throat every time he gives you that happy grin, or if it’s because part of you knows that this could be the last time you see him.

It makes you see how good you have it, being friends with Kiba.

You let him steal meat when he goes for it, not trying to retaliate for once. This is the first thing that really gets Kiba’s attention.

“Ya know, I really missed ya when I was gone.” He said, lacing his fingers together behind his head and leaning into it, full and satisfied now that there are only empty plates in front of you. “It would’ve been more fun if you went along with me.”

“Oh, come on, Kiba. I can’t just tag along on a mission. No matter how much I wish I could.” You say, trying to ignore the feeling of something trying to exit center stage all over the grill. The hot grill.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

You steal your resolve. You can’t not tell him. You take a deep breath, and do what Kiba would. You jump in head first, with little regard for the consequences.

“Hey, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.” You blurt out.

Kiba looks up, gristle hanging half out of his mouth, and you start coughing again before you can say anything else. You can’t stop. It burns, and you can’t get the lump up fast enough. People are staring in horror as you curl up on the floor, coughing harder and harder.

Kiba is at your side in an instant, calling for someone to get a medic. You’re still coughing when someone finally leaves.

You get the lump to move, hoping for air. You clutch a hand to your throat.

Kiba gets the hint, and starts the heimlich maneuver. He presses your back against him, and pushes your stomach up. Over and over, he helps you push the thing blocking your pipes out of the way.

When it’s over, you’re relieved to still be alive, and on the floor at your feet, is a large peony in full bloom.

Your stomach sinks as Kiba just stares at the glistening thing, unsure of anything that’s happening and very freaked out, if the pulse pounding into your back has anything to say about it.

That flower reminds you of the one thing you hadn’t thought about.

It might be too late to fix this whole mess.

You don’t get to finish what you were about to say when the medics get there. They rush you to the emergency room for treatment, and Kiba talks his way into going with you. He listens as the doctors explain as much about your ailment as they can with the information they have. You can’t do anything to hide the pain and shame on your face as they tell Kiba that the cause seems to be unrequited love.

You don’t watch him as he looks from you to the doctors, desperately hoping that this is some sort of joke as he follows the doctors to the room you had been in before. His face slowly falls into something grim and determined.

You don’t have the heart, or the voice, to tell him the risks of doing anything in this situation. The doctors tell him instead, and you find yourself hoping that it can just be over already.

You know that you’re not that lucky, though. Not by a long shot.

When the doctors finally leave, you’re hooked up to several more monitors, and Kiba has been fully briefed on the situation. He stands next to your bed, a soldier’s stiffness lingering in the grim light of the situation.

It takes you a long while to get him to sit down, and longer before he says something.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you snuck out of the hospital?” He asks.

Anything you might have said dried up in your throat. Kiba hands you a pen and paper.

‘I didn’t want you to worry.’ you write, not quite able to look him in the eye as he reads what you wrote. The tubes running down your throat make it hard to talk, so this is what you have to do.

“If you didn’t want me to worry, you wouldn’t have coughed up a fucking flower right in front of me and  _ not said anything. _ ” He hissed, pain lacing his voice.

‘I just wanted to be normal with you one last time.’ You write. You stare at the pen in your lap, waiting for something to happen as you blink back tears.

“What do you mean ‘last time’? There ain’t any last times happening today unless it’s the last time you do anything like this ever again.” Kiba grits his teeth, forcing words out like they’ll bite him if he lingers. “The doctors said that you can go back to normal if you confess.” Kiba looks at you, hurt written in his face, and shown in every move he makes. His hands are shaking. “If you want me to, I’ll go get them right now.” He looks down, defeated. “Just tell me who it is.”

You scribble on your little notepad. ‘I can’t do that.’ You toss your pencil at him. It bounces off of his knee as he looks up at you again.

“Why not?” He grits his teeth. “There’s no reason for you to lose that much. Not for anybody-”

You snap your fingers, trying to get his attention. He stops and you hand over the paper you had scribbled on before you threw your pencil.

‘I can’t because it’s you. Dumbass.’

Kiba’s jaw drops, and you think you see tears in his eyes. He looks up at you, and tears splatter onto the paper. You try to clear your throat. It’s still dry, and it doesn’t help.

“You. You love me?” He asks, disbelieving and all too hopeful.

The paper wrinkles in his tight grip. You nod, not entirely ready for what’s sure to come.

You don’t expect him to laugh, and when he does, you look at him like he’s gone and lost his marbles.

“We’re both idiots.” Kiba sighs, wrapping you up in the strongest hug he can before he whispers, “I love you too.”

Your bright, and shining joy is cut off by another cough. Clearly, a confession isn’t a cure all for the problem at hand. Fuck.

Kiba goes to get a doctor, and you can already tell that you’re in for yet another round of scrutiny while Kiba is left in the hall. You’re put through your paces, and the medical nin look for more signs of plant growth within your internal organs.

After you’ve been poked, and prodded, and all the tests are finally done, you are instructed to stay for a few more days for monitoring, but it looks like the plant life is already beginning to recede.

You agree to stay, and tell Kiba the good news when he’s let back in from the waiting room.

“So, you’re not going to die from flowers?” He asks, the echoes of worry still making him tense and anxious.

“No, I’m not going to die from it. I just need to stay here a few more days, and they’ll let me go home when they’re sure it’s gone.”

“Alright.” He sighs, slumping over in his chair. Relieved laughter bubbles out of him. “I’m really glad you’re not dying.”

“Me too, Kiba. Oh, how about when I get out of here we can get some food to celebrate. Drink all we want, have a night on the town?”

“You puked up a flower right in front of me in that restaurant. I don’t wanna go back there for a while at least.” Kiba grumbles. He does look back to you, though.”How about we have a nice night in. Maybe do some stargazing if it’s clear out.”

You smile at him, wide and happy. “That sounds like a great idea.”

“It’s a date then.”

You spend the rest of your allotted time in the hospital waiting for you to finally be deemed healthy enough to leave.

When you’re given the all clear, Kiba is waiting for you at the door with Akamaru, and open arms.

When you’re out of the hospital, he slings an arm around you and draws you into one of his infamous bear hugs and squeezes the life out of you, all while pressing a kiss to your cheek. 

Akamaru stands up against Kiba to sniff you properly, setting his weight on the both of you while Kiba sways with you in his arms and laughs.

“Come on. We have food waiting for you.”

You follow him towards the Inuzuka compound, where he brags that he whipped up a feast to celebrate, and a night full of movies and talking and staring at the sky.

Honestly? You couldn’t ask for more.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments feed the machine
> 
> Edited 11/19/2020


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